Lawyers handling car wreck cases would be especially interested in this 2017 opinion from the Texas Supreme Court. It is styled, Farmers Texas County Mutual Insurance Company v. Jennifer L. Zuniga et al. This is an appeal from the granting of a summary judgment in favor of Zuniga wherein Farmers…
The San Antonio Division, Western District, issued an opinion dealing with rebuild costs under a homeowners policy that insurance attorneys need to read. It is styled, Kirk McClelland and Tamre McClelland v. Chubb Lloyd’s Insurance Company of Texas, and Robert Lynn Pritchard. This is a dispute over coverage and the…
The Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division ruled on an interpleader case recently. It is styled, Primerica Life Insurance Company v. Sherry Purselley, et al. The co-defendants in this case are Henslee, Lee, and Sherry Purselley. This is an effort to determine who owns the life insurance proceeds at issue.…
Getting the insurance adjuster served with legal papers in a lawsuit is important and for some reason, overlooked. This is illustrated in an Eastern District, Sherman Division case styled, Robert Crawford v. Allied Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Laura Jones. Crawford, a citizen of Texas, sued Allied, an Iowa Company…
A recent case filed in Tarrant County was removed to Federal Court, Northern District, Fort Worth Division. One issue dealt with the appraisal provision in the insurance contract. The style of the case is, Reese Hallak v. Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance Company. Hallak sued Allstate for breach of contract…
Insurance attorneys with much experience learn real quick that the insurance companies prefer to litigate cases in Federal Court. The reason is that Federal Court is much less forgiving of mistakes and the Federal Courts look for reasons to dispose of a case. This authors opinion is that many of…
Lawsuits need to be specific when claiming what an insurance company, adjuster, or agent did that caused harm to their insured. This is illustrated in an Eastern District opinion styled, Scott Jengemuhle and Ty Properties, LLC v. Acceptance Indemnity Insurance Company and Robert Saucier. This case relates to an insurance…
In a definition of “total disability in an individual accident and sickness policy or hospital, medical, and dental service corporation subscriber contract, the inability to perform duties may not be based solely on an individual’s inability to perform “any occupational duty,” but the insurer may specify the requirement of the…
As in all insurance policies, the language used in the policy will be used in enforcing and interpreting the policy. In the 2003, Texas Supreme Court opinion, Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. v. Knott, the court read the policies in question defining the term “total disability” to mean that…
It needs to be noted at the beginning here. Private disability claims are different from government disability claims and also from disability claims that are governed by ERISA. This posting deals those disability claims that are from private policies or policies other than government or ERISA. Disability policies will usually…